19th century

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the First French Empire.

The 19th century began on 1 January 1801 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 (MCM).

The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolished in much of Europe and the Americas. The First Industrial Revolution, though it began in the late 18th century, expanding beyond its British homeland for the first time during this century, particularly remaking the economies and societies of the Low Countries, the Rhineland, Northern Italy, and the Northeastern United States. A few decades later, the Second Industrial Revolution led to ever more massive urbanization and much higher levels of productivity, profit, and prosperity, a pattern that continued into the 20th century.

In the Middle East, it was an era of change and reform. The Islamic gunpowder empires fell into decline and European imperialism brought much of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and almost all of Africa under colonial rule. Reformers were opposed at every turn by conservatives who strove to maintain the centuries old Islamic laws and social order.[1] The century also saw the collapse of the large Spanish and Mughal Empires. This paved the way for the growing influence of the British, French, German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Italian, and Japanese Empires along with the United States. The British boasted unchallenged global dominance after 1815.

After the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars, the British and Russian Empires expanded greatly, becoming two of the world's leading powers. Russia expanded its territory to Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Ottoman Empire underwent a period of Westernization and reform known as the Tanzimat, vastly increasing its control over core territories in the Middle East. However, it remained in decline and became known as the sick man of Europe, losing territory in the Balkans and North Africa.

The remaining powers in the Indian subcontinent such as the Maratha and Sikh Empires suffered a massive decline and their dissatisfaction with the British East India Company's rule led to the Indian Rebellion of 1857, marking its dissolution. India was later ruled directly by the British Crown through the establishment of the British Raj.

Britain's overseas possessions grew rapidly in the first half of the century, especially with the expansion of vast territories in Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, and in the last two decades of the century in Africa. By the end of the century, the British controlled a fifth of the world's land and one-quarter of the world's population. During the post-Napoleonic era, it enforced what became known as the Pax Britannica, which had ushered in unprecedented globalization on a massive scale.

Nabi Tajima
(1900–2018), both Japanese, were the last man and woman respectively verified to have been born during the century.

Overview

Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

The first

light bulb in 1878.[3]

The 19th century was an era of rapidly accelerating

Arab slave traders and their captives along the Ruvuma river (in today's Tanzania and Mozambique), 19th century

Russia
in 1861.

The 19th century was remarkable in the widespread formation of new settlement foundations which were particularly prevalent across North America and Australia, with a significant proportion of the two continents' largest cities being founded at some point in the century. Chicago in the United States and Melbourne in Australia were non-existent in the earliest decades but grew to become the 2nd largest cities in the United States and British Empire respectively by the end of the century. In the 19th century, approximately 70 million people left Europe, with most migrating to the United States.[10]

The 19th century also saw the rapid creation, development, and codification of many sports, particularly in Britain and the United States. Association football, rugby union, baseball, and many other sports were developed during the 19th century, while the British Empire facilitated the rapid spread of sports such as cricket to many different parts of the world. Also, women's fashion was a very sensitive topic during this time, as women showing their ankles was viewed to be scandalous.

The boundaries set by the Congress of Vienna, 1815.

It also marks the fall of the Ottoman rule of the Balkans which led to the creation of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Romania as a result of the second Russo-Turkish War, which in itself followed the great Crimean War.

Eras

Map of the world from 1897. The British Empire (marked in pink) was the superpower of the 19th century.

Wars

Napoleonic Wars

Napoleon's retreat from Russia in 1812. The war swings decisively against the French Empire

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of major conflicts from 1803 to 1815 pitting the

Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European powers formed into various coalitions, financed and usually led by the United Kingdom. The wars stemmed from the unresolved disputes associated with the French Revolution and its resultant conflict
.

In the aftermath of the

Napoleon Bonaparte gained power in France in 1799. In 1804, he crowned himself Emperor of the French
.

In 1805, the French victory over an Austrian-Russian army at the

was dissolved.

Later efforts were less successful. In the Peninsular War, France unsuccessfully attempted to establish Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain. In 1812, the French invasion of Russia had massive French casualties, and was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1814, after defeat in the

South Atlantic Ocean
.

After Napoleon's defeat, the Congress of Vienna was held to determine new national borders. The Concert of Europe attempted to preserve this settlement was established to preserve these borders, with limited impact.

Latin American independence

Portrait of the Chilean declaration of independence
The Chilean Declaration of Independence on 18 February 1818

Mexico and the majority of the countries in Central America and South America obtained independence from colonial overlords during the 19th century. In 1804, Haiti gained independence from France. In Mexico, the Mexican War of Independence was a decade-long conflict that ended in Mexican independence in 1821.

Due to the Napoleonic Wars, the royal family of Portugal

relocated to Brazil
from 1808 to 1821, leading to Brazil having a separate monarchy from Portugal.

The Federal Republic of Central America gained independence from Spain in 1821 and from Mexico in 1823. After several rebellions, by 1841 the federation had dissolved into the independent countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.[11]

In 1830, the post-colonial nation of Gran Colombia dissolved and the nations of Colombia (including modern-day Panama), Ecuador, and Venezuela took its place.

Revolutions of 1848

Liberal and nationalist pressure led to the European revolutions of 1848

The

political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. The revolutions were essentially democratic and liberal in nature, with the aim of removing the old monarchical
structures and creating independent nation states.

The first revolution began in January in Sicily.[clarification needed] Revolutions then spread across Europe after a separate revolution began in France in February. Over 50 countries were affected, but with no coordination or cooperation among their respective revolutionaries.

According to Evans and von Strandmann (2000), some of the major contributing factors were widespread dissatisfaction with political leadership, demands for more participation in government and democracy, demands for freedom of the press, other demands made by the working class, the upsurge of nationalism, and the regrouping of established government forces.[12]

Abolition and the American Civil War

William Wilberforce (1759–1833), politician and philanthropist who was a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade.

The

Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 banned slavery throughout the British Empire, and the Lei Áurea
abolished slavery in Brazil in 1888.

Abolitionism in the United States continued until the end of the American Civil War. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were two of many American abolitionists who helped win the fight against slavery. Douglass was an articulate orator and incisive antislavery writer, while Tubman worked with a network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.

The American Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865. Eleven southern states seceded from the United States, largely over concerns related to slavery. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln issued a preliminary[13] on September 22, 1862, warning that in all states still in rebellion (Confederacy) on January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves "then, thenceforward, and forever free."[14] He did so.[15] The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution,[16] ratified in 1865, officially abolished slavery in the entire country.

Five days after

Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, Lincoln was assassinated by actor and Confederate sympathiser John Wilkes Booth
.

Decline of the Ottoman Empire

Ibrahim_Pasha_During_his_Final_Years
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, leader of the Egyptian Army in Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833).[17]

In 1830, Greece became the first country to break away from the Ottoman Empire after the Greek War of Independence. In 1831, the Bosnian Uprising against Ottoman rule occurred. In 1817, the Principality of Serbia became suzerain from the Ottoman Empire, and in 1867, it passed a constitution that defined its independence from the Ottoman Empire. In 1831, The First Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833) occurred, between the Ottoman Empire and Egypt brought about by Muhammad Ali Pasha's demand to the Sublime Porte for control of Greater Syria, as reward for aiding the Sultan during the Greek War of Independence. As a result, Egyptian forces temporarily gained control of Syria, advancing as far north as Kütahya.[18] In 1876, Bulgarians instigated the April Uprising against Ottoman rule. Following the Russo-Turkish War, the Treaty of Berlin recognized the formal independence of the Serbia, Montenegro, and Romania. Bulgaria became autonomous.

China: Taiping Rebellion

A scene of the Taiping Rebellion.

The

Jesus Christ and developed a new Chinese religion known as the God Worshipping Society. After proclaiming the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1851, the Taiping army conquered a large part of China, capturing Nanjing in 1853. In 1864, after the death of Hong Xiuquan, Qing forces recaptured Nanjing and ended the rebellion.[19]

Japan: Meiji Restoration

During the Edo period, Japan largely pursued an isolationist foreign policy. In 1853, United States Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry threatened the Japanese capital Edo with gunships, demanding that they agree to open trade. This led to the opening of trade relations between Japan and foreign countries, with the policy of Sakoku formally ended in 1854.

By 1872, the Japanese government under Emperor Meiji had eliminated the daimyō system and established a strong central government. Further reforms included the abolishment of the samurai class, rapid industrialization and modernization of government, closely following European models.[20]

Colonialism

Arrival of Marshal Randon in Algiers, French Algeria in 1857
The Maratha Confederacy and the East India Company sign the Treaty of Bassein in 1802.

Africa

Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913

In Africa, European exploration and technology led to the colonization of almost the entire continent by 1898. New medicines such as

firearms allowed European nations to conquer native populations.[21]

Motivations for the

First Italo–Ethiopian War at the Battle of Adwa. France, Belgium, Portugal, and Germany also had substantial colonies. The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 attempted to reach agreement on colonial borders in Africa, but disputes continued, both amongst European powers and in resistance by the native populations.[21]

In 1867, diamonds were discovered in the Kimberley region of South Africa. In 1886, gold was discovered in Transvaal. This led to colonization in Southern Africa by the British and business interests, led by Cecil Rhodes.[21]

Other wars

Science and technology

Leslie - physicsFrancis Baily - astronomerPlayfair - UniformitarianismRutherford - NitrogenDollond - OpticsYoung - modulus etcBrown - Brownian motionGilbert - Royal Society presidentBanks - BotanistKater - measured gravity??Howard - Chemical EngineerDundonald - propellorsWilliam Allen - PharmacistHenry - Gas lawWollaston - Palladium and RhodiumHatchett - NiobiumDavy - ChemistMaudslay - modern latheBentham - machinery?Rumford - thermodynamicsMurdock - sun and planet gearRennie - Docks, canals & bridgesJessop - CanalsMylne - Blackfriars bridgeCongreve - rocketsDonkin - engineerHenry Fourdrinier - Paper making machineThomson - atomsWilliam Symington - first steam boatMiller - steam boatNasmyth - painter and scientistNasmyth2Bramah - HydraulicsTrevithickHerschel - UranusMaskelyne - Astronomer RoyalJenner - Smallpox vaccineCavendishDalton - atomsBrunel - Civil EngineerBoulton - SteamHuddart - Rope machineWatt - Steam engineTelfordCrompton - spinning machineTennant - Industrial ChemistCartwright - Power loomRonalds - Electric telegraphStanhope - InventorUse your cursor to explore (or Click icon to enlarge)
Distinguished Men of Science.[23] Use the cursor to see who is who.[24]

The 19th century saw the birth of science as a profession; the term scientist was coined in 1833 by

complex variables. It also saw rise to new progress in geometry
beyond those classical theories of Euclid, after a period of nearly two thousand years. The mathematical science of logic likewise had revolutionary breakthroughs after a similarly long period of stagnation. But the most important step in science at this time were the ideas formulated by the creators of electrical science. Their work changed the face of physics and made possible for new technology to come about including a rapid spread in the use of electric illumination and power in the last two decades of the century and radio wave communication at the end of the 1890s.

Michael Faraday (1791–1867)
Charles Darwin

Medicine

Robert Koch discovered the tuberculosis bacilli. The disease killed an estimated 25 percent of the adult population of Europe during the 19th century.[26]

Inventions

light bulb
.
Benz
Omnibus, built in 1895 for the Netphener bus company

Religion

Brigham Young led the LDS Church from 1844 until his death in 1877

Culture

The Great Exhibition in London. Starting during the 18th century, the United Kingdom was the first country in the world to industrialise.
Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina

Literature

On the literary front the new century opens with romanticism, a movement that spread throughout Europe in reaction to 18th-century rationalism, and it develops more or less along the lines of the Industrial Revolution, with a design to react against the dramatic changes wrought on nature by the steam engine and the railway. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are considered the initiators of the new school in England, while in the continent the German Sturm und Drang spreads its influence as far as Italy and Spain. French arts had been hampered by the Napoleonic Wars but subsequently developed rapidly. Modernism began.[30]

The Goncourts and

Some American literary writers, poets and novelists were:

to name a few.

Photography

One of the first photographs, produced in 1826 by Nicéphore Niépce
Nadar
, Self-portrait, c. 1860

Visual artists, painters, sculptors

Francisco Goya, The Third of May 1808, 1814, Museo del Prado
Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830, Louvre
Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, 1889, National Gallery of Art
Alphonse Mucha, Advertise with Biscuits Lefèvre-Utile, 1897

The Realism and Romanticism of the early 19th century gave way to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the later half of the century, with Paris being the dominant art capital of the world. In the United States the Hudson River School was prominent. 19th-century painters included:

Music

Ludwig van Beethoven
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Sonata form matured during the Classical era to become the primary form of instrumental compositions throughout the 19th century. Much of the music from the 19th century was referred to as being in the Romantic style. Many great composers lived through this era such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Richard Wagner. The list includes:

Sports

Events

1801–1850

1819: 29 January, Stamford Raffles arrives in Singapore with William Farquhar to establish a trading post for the British East India Company. 8 February, The treaty is signed between Sultan Hussein of Johor, Temenggong Abdul Rahman and Stamford Raffles. Farquhar is installed as the first Resident of the settlement.
Senate Square
.
  • Metropolitan Police Service
    , the first modern police force.
Emigrants leaving Ireland. From 1830 to 1914, almost 5 million Irish people went to the United States alone.
Historical territorial expansion of the United States

1851–1900

The first vessels sail through the Suez Canal
A barricade in the Paris Commune, 18 March 1871. Around 30,000 Parisians were killed, and thousands more were later executed.
Black Friday, 9 May 1873, Vienna Stock Exchange. The Panic of 1873 and Long Depression followed.
Studio portrait of Ilustrados in Europe, c. 1890

Last survivors

Born on 19 April 1897, Japanese

Nabi Tajima (born 4 August 1900) died as the last person to verifiably have been born in the century.[39]

Supplementary portrait gallery

See also

References

  1. S2CID 153025861
    . The 19th century is frequently characterized as a period of tension between forces of continuity and change. The reformers who advocated the adoption of European institutions and technology, have often been portrayed as the progressive elements of society courageously charting the course toward an inevitably Westernized twentieth century. Conversely, the adherents of continuity, who viewed with alarm the dismantling of the Islamic order and sought to preserve tradition and retain the values and ideals that had served Ottoman and Islamic society so well for so long, are sometimes portrayed as nothing but archaic reactionaries. But we should avoid these simplistic characterizations if we are to appreciate the agonizing and dangerous process of transforming an established religious, social and political worldview.
  2. ^ "The First Telephone Call". www.americaslibrary.gov. Archived from the original on 2015-10-22. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  3. ^ "Dec. 18, 1878: Let There Be Light — Electric Light". WIRED. 18 December 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  4. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica's Great Inventions. Encyclopædia Britannica.
  5. ^ "The United States and the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century". Americanhistory.about.com. 2012-09-18. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  6. ^ Laura Del Col, West Virginia University, The Life of the Industrial Worker in Nineteenth-Century England Archived 2008-03-13 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Modernization – Population Change". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009.
  8. ^ Liberalism in the 19th century Archived 2009-02-18 at the Wayback Machine. Encyclopædia Britannica.
  9. ^ Sailing against slavery. By Jo Loosemore Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine. BBC.
  10. ^ The Atlantic: Can the US afford immigration? Archived 2010-07-04 at the Wayback Machine. Migration News. December 1996.
  11. .
  12. ^ R.J.W. Evans and Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann, eds., The Revolutions in Europe 1848–1849 (2000) pp. v, 4
  13. ^ "The Emancipation Proclamation". National Archives. October 6, 2015. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  14. ^ McPherson, J. M. (2014). "Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment", in E. Foner and J. A. Garraty (eds.), The Reader's Companion to American History. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. [1] Retrieved from Archived 2018-11-06 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ "Transcript of the Proclamation". National Archives. October 6, 2015.
  16. ^ "13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery". National Archives. January 27, 2016. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  17. .
  18. ^ Westera, Rick. "Historical Atlas of Europe (17 February 1832): First Egyptian-Ottoman War". Omniatlas. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  19. .
  20. ^ W. G. Beasley, The Meiji Restoration (1972),
  21. ^ .
  22. William Walker
    , ref. NPG 1075a, National Portrait Gallery, London, accessed February 2010
  23. .
  24. ^ Snyder, Laura J. (2000-12-23). "William Whewell". Stanford University. Archived from the original on 2010-01-04. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
  25. ^ "Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2018-12-31. Archived from the original on April 21, 2009.
  26. ^ "Arc Lamps – How They Work & History". edisontechcenter.org.
  27. ^ Jonathan Daly, The Rise of Western Power – A Comparative History of Western Civilization, Bloomsbury Publishing · 2013, page 310
  28. ^ Turan Gonen, Electric Power Distribution Engineering, CRC Press · 2015, page 1
  29. ^ David Damrosch and David L. Pike, eds. The Longman Anthology of World Literature, Volume E: The Nineteenth Century (2nd ed. 2008)
  30. ^ M. H. Abrams et al., eds., The Norton Anthology of English Literature (9th ed. 2012)
  31. S2CID 131663534
    .
  32. ^ a b c Vickers (2005), page xii
  33. . 296 pages. pp. 186–203
  34. ^ "World's oldest man ever turns 116 in Kyoto as his health is studied". The Japan Daily Press. 15 April 2013. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  35. ^ "World's oldest person turns 116 in Japan". France 24 International News. 19 April 2013. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  36. ^ "World's oldest person Jiroemon Kimura turns 116 in Japan". The Economic Times. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  37. ^ Matsuyama, Kanoko (27 December 2012). "Japanese 115-Year-Old Becomes Oldest Man in History". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 29 December 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  38. ^ Politi, Daniel (22 April 2018). "The Last Known Person Born in the 19th Century Dies in Japan at 117". Slate. Archived from the original on 12 September 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2019.

Further reading

  • Langer, William. An Encyclopedia of World History (5th ed. 1973); highly detailed outline of events online free
  • Morris, Richard B. and Graham W. Irwin, eds. Harper Encyclopedia of the Modern World: A Concise Reference History from 1760 to the Present (1970) online frr
  • New Cambridge Modern History (13 vol 1957–79), old but thorough coverage, mostly of Europe; strong on diplomacy
    • Bury, J. P. T. ed. The New Cambridge Modern History: Vol. 10: the Zenith of European Power, 1830–70 (1964) online
    • Crawley, C. W., ed. The New Cambridge Modern History Volume IX War and Peace In An Age of Upheaval 1793–1830 (1965) online
    • Darby, H. C. and H. Fullard The New Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 14: Atlas (1972)
    • Hinsley, F.H., ed. The New Cambridge Modern History, vol. 11, Material Progress and World-Wide Problems 1870–1898 (1979) online

Diplomacy and international relations

Europe

Asia, Africa

North and South America

Primary sources

  • de Bary, Wm. Theodore, ed. Sources of East Asian Tradition, Vol. 2: The Modern Period (2008), 1192 pp
  • Kertesz, G.A. ed Documents in the Political History of the European Continent 1815–1939 (1968), 507 pp; several hundred short documents

External links